The Last Crop

Ann Sweeney has a peculiar perspective on how the other half live: as charwoman to a number of Sydney apartments owned by wealthy business folk who spend months abroad, she not only cleans the trappings of financial success, but makes good use of them, letting friends take over the luxury flats in the owners' absence for romantic weekends, wedding receptions, or simply a break from routine. But not everything is rosy for Ann, burdened as she is with a delinquent son, a daughter given to bursts of moody ingratitude, and a surly father in an old peoples' home who refuses to make everyone's life easier by selling the family's derelict farm. Deceptively slight, this adaptation of Elizabeth Jolley's short story charms partly for its bitter-sweet sense of humour, partly for its beautifully convincing performances (especially Kerry Walker as the pragmatic Ann). Also impressive are the way Clayton subtly injects trenchant social and economic observations into her oblique narrative, and the crisp, clear lines of Geoff Burton's camerawork.